COMMENT
Written on the Ipswich to London train and dispatched via a free wi-fi service in London.
Suppose for a moment you bought a pen and found it would only write on a particular brand of paper. Or perhaps even more strangely, a car that only operated on one brand of fuel.
What kind of a world would that be and how soon would we change our purchasing habits, or get our toolkits out? This would be an alien world without customer freedom and so obviously doomed to fail.
New exclusive:
The Naked CIO
It's time to wage war on home 'workers'
Strange then that over these past few weeks a number of industry pundits have expressed surprise at the rising tide of unlocked mobile devices appearing on networks.
In the case of the Apple iPhone it appears that many more than 1.3 million iPhones - and some estimate up to 30 per cent of all sales to date - are not being operated on the AT&T or O2 networks as originally intended. Where have they gone? Simple. To every other country and carrier you can name.
It appears that France and Finland are among a few countries where the tying of mobile devices to a specific network is illegal. Sadly, for the rest of us, the practice is not only condoned, it is actively encouraged.
But in the spirit of freedom, the software community freely publish fixes so that anyone with a modicum of capability can unlock a mobile to operate with any SIM on any network. How long does it take? Much less than an hour.
Like thousands of others, I have enjoyed the phone I want, operating on the network I choose, year after year, model after model, by virtue of this free software mechanism.
But there may be a bit of a showstopper on the horizon. Software workarounds are relatively easy to engineer but the device manufacturers and network operators are conspiring to insert hardware-defined constraints. These are considerably more difficult to overcome and generally require specialised knowledge, tools and skills.
So what happens next? Watch out for a slew of look-alike products out of Asia at a price point 50 per cent below that of the EU- and USA-derived originals.
Sound familiar? Didn't this, or something very similar, happen to the automotive, camera, hi-fi, radio, TV and recording industries of the West before? Didn't every instance of restrictive practices - coupled with attempts to constrain customers - in the past always end in tears?
I think the mobile device manufacturers and network operators had better get their handkerchiefs ready. There are going to be a whole lot of tears shed, and it won't be the customers crying.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Tony Mudd
And how much cheaper would it make phonecalls if the networks were not allowed to subsidise handsets.
A handset that cost £300 should cost the user £300, not £50 and £15 per month extra until the network has clawed back the cost.
It would encourage people to use older handsets, think of the environmental impact of all these year-old handsets being replaced, just because you can and "you've paid for it".
2. anonymous
Well said Peter.
The same argument applies to iPod/iTunes etc., and was stated by myself and others to APIG a couple of years ago - and still nothing has happened.
Perhaps now a high-profile and well-respected commentator has publicly spoken out, something will at last be done (by our political masters) about this...
3. G C
handset locking is generally associated with handset subsidy - in the majority of countries in Europe, the consumer does not pay anything like the retail price of the handset. instead, the network operator sells it below cost in the hope of tying the customer to the network and getting all the call minute and SMS revenue. In a worl without these locks, expect the subsidy to disappear and thus expect to pay more for your devices. To be honest, this would be a much better way of doing business for a mobile operator. It already happens in Belgium and Italy but it will involve a big culture shock in the UK.
4. Mark Hosey
Couldn't agree more!
5. Simon Allen
Yes, it would be a culture shock to the UK to pay the correct price for a cellular handset - but the longer they used the phone, the cheaper it would be.
However, the Brits 'voted' for this exorbitant way of doing things.
When cellular radio started in 1985, it was quickly deemed that the phones were too expensive. So Vodafone and Cellnet introduced subsidies and then ... the Brits complained the phone calls were too expensive!!
BUT, if they paid a proper price for the phone - they would have had low calls. By having a cheap phone they won themselves expensive phone calls for ever. The networks made loads more money than they otherwise would have.
I find it quite amusing. Although it is an expensive joke for all of us.
6. Peter Cochrane
The key question to ask is how much do mobile phones cost to produce and what would be a reasonable price. So let's see - they come off the production line @ <£20, and we might expect a 3 - 5 x mark up. Say a price in the range £60 - £100!
But hey, we also pay way OTT for calls and TXT messages. So why not even cheaper??
Tou get charged what the market will stand - and the UK market is real soft - you can charge what you like and people will pay!